Okay Wait So Something Just Struck Me

some things aren't even headcanons they're just divine visions and u have no choice but to accept them

Sobbing

Idk idk something about how broccoli arc is about looking someone you love in the face and seeing the best part of them and knowing they won't hurt you and confession arc is about looking someone you love in the face and seeing the worst part of them and knowing they will hurt you and loving them anyway. Mob stepping forward into the spear that crumples when he moves is one side of the coin and Reigen running barefoot through the hurricane that's battering him to pieces is the other, but the coin always has both sides. Everyone is simultaneously the best and worst parts of themselves and loving someone, seeing someone, is about accepting that totality.

I think alot about serizawa.

that he's so powerful and so sensitive, and how he's the very common Shonen anime trope of "villain with tragic backstory who just needed friends and is won over to the hero's side after the hero listens to them and shows them kindness" but like, his tragic backstory is so grounded in places others just aren't? like, he just didn't want to hurt anybody, so he hid himself away. that's so simple, yet so poignant and painful, so...normal. its such a common emotion, such a common solution. its not a healthy one or a "good" one, but its all he had...and then at some point, his self-imposed isolation became so hurtful to him that it caused him to become vulnerable to exploitation. to manipulation, and he became a weapon in a never ending cycle of violence, until someone was kind enough to listen to him, to want to help him.

and then i think about the fact that that person was just a child who had experienced the exact same struggle but was provided tools by people who loved him to help manage his problems....and it honestly makes me so emotional. because, like, it's a perfect allegory for how living with mental illness affects people.

serizawa is older than mob, so the society he grew up in didn't know how to handle his powers (mental illness/neurodivergency), but now, as times have changed and society has become increasingly more aware, it opens the pathway for people to find strength together, to have people in their lives that understand that they need kindess, they need love, that their mental illness isnt something bad or wrong.

but even more than that, they know that their differences do not make them bad people, they are not something to be shunned and hidden away, but just something to be worked through. just a unique aspect of how that person is, and it's neither good nor bad, just how they are.

and then i think about how serizawa didn't have anyone like that in his life until he was 30, and how those years of isolation and then manipulation (which caused him to do the very thing he was afraid of), how all of that could have broken him could have made him unloving, could have made him bitter. but instead, he overcame his fears, his guilt, his shame, and under all of that, he's just kind.

when i get really afraid, of myself, of the world, when i want to myself hide away and never leave my bed, my room, i think of him, and i feel so comforted, so much less alone.

what a wonderful man, written so gently, so lovingly. it's so rare to see a grown man with a stigmatized symptom of mental illness depicted in such a kind way, it makes me want to hug ONE through a phone screen.

anyway, uh. yeah katsuya. i think he's pretty neat.

Head in my hands head in my hands

Oh, my love

I've been strong For far too long

I still hear you in every melancholic song

My love

Don't pass me by

My lover in thе sky

Do you know how hard It is to say goodbye?

song lyrics source

One of my favorite minor details about Reigen in Mob Psycho is how he always protects his head when it is about to hit something

Where did you get that reaction from you funky little man

Wip I'm never gonna finish because I lost all ability to draw hands lmao

I have caved. here is my pitch for why Shigeo "Mob" Kageyama needs to win the @autismswagsummit (or at the very least get to the finals)

people have already talked about his intense autism coding (difficulty reading social cues, low empathy/high compassion, strict moral code, flat affect, bluntness, hyperfixating, emotional dysregulation/emotions being all or nothing) but I'm going to put my English degree to good use and talk about the narrative importance of Mob's autism

the entire plot of Mob Psycho 100 would not exist without Mob's autism

first and foremost, the 100 in Mob Psycho 100? it's a symbol of Mob's emotional dysregulation. the narrative uses a percentage counter as a device to indicate Mob's emotional state -- the percentage till Mob's "explosion." emotions and psychic powers are directly related within the narrative, and because he fears the strength of his emotions/powers, he's been repressing his emotions since he was a child. however, as anyone who tries to repress their emotions can tell you, that only works for so long. the percentage meter indicates the build up of emotions until he cannot repress them anymore -- until he essentially has an emotional meltdown through a psychic explosion. these explosions aren't strictly negative emotions either; they can range a wide spectrum of emotions, from rage and sadness to gratitude and trust. any buildup of emotions can be overwhelming and trigger a meltdown

aside from that, the core thesis of the series is self-acceptance. Mob starts off the series with painfully low self-esteem, for a number of reasons -- he dislikes that he doesn't fit in, he feels massive guilt for allowing his psychic powers to hurt his brother when they were little. he wishes he didn't have these powers (which, I cannot emphasize enough, are a metaphor for autism) and he wishes he could just be "normal." over the course of the series, it is emphasized over and over that psychic powers are normal, they're just another trait a person can have. there's good parts of them and bad parts, but at the end of the day, they are a neutral trait. you can understand why "your autism is a normal part of you, not something to be hated or feared" is an important message

which brings us to the final arc of the series. Mob Psycho 100 does not end with a climactic battle with some big bad, but rather with a confrontation between Mob and the part of himself he's locked away. this other part of him symbolizes a lot of things, but most importantly it symbolizes his psychic powers and his autism. since he realized as a child that his psychic powers (autism) could potentially hurt someone if he's not careful, he's been shoving that part away from him and attempting to mask and be "normal." this manifestation of his psychic powers/autism is, understandably, pretty bitter and angry about this. at the end of the day, he just wants to be accepted for who he is -- not for the face he presents to the world, but for who he really is on the inside. the culmination of the whole story comes through his loved ones showing him that they love him in his entirety, even when he's volatile or upset. they love Mob as who he is, and because his psychic powers (autism) are part of him, they love that part of him too. the resolution comes when Mob finally accepts all parts of himself, even his psychic powers (autism) because they're nothing to be feared or hated. they're just part of him.

genuinely, Mob Psycho 100 is the best representation of autism I've ever seen. Mob isn't the only autistic coded character in the series (I could go on and on about Serizawa's adult autism or the relationship between Ritsu's gifted kid syndrome and his undiagnosed autism) but his autism is definitely the most important to the plot of the show. his autism is presented realistically, with kindness and nuance and, most importantly, with neutrality. even if you don't vote Mob in the autism summit (which, you should. come on.) if you're ever wanting a show about autism and self acceptance that is kind without being saccharine, I cannot recommend Mob Psycho 100 enough

also if this isn't a damning indication of the importance of autism in Mob Psycho 100, I don't know what is

@autismswagreblogs

Okay but now I really want to draw our OCS together with Cedar being introduced to Al in order to help him gather evidence on cases since his job is already to help Sally and the police commissioner keep tabs on villains (except it usually ends up with him handing over huge files absolutely full to the brim of incriminating evidence for the defendant 💀)

Do you have a design for ur lawyer oc? Asking for a friend 👉👈

HERE HE IS IN ALL HIS GLORY

His name is Michael A. Practis, but he goes by Al (like. like um. LIKE. like malpractice. ok thank you)

He's a defense lawyer who recently moved into Fair City, and didn't realize that the place was just... full of villains. And new villains pop up like every day. He also didn't realize they would just SAY they're villains, loud and proud, and that REALLY ruins his chances of a successful trial.

I'd say he's about fresh outta college, around 25 yrs old, and has... SO many life regrets already. Despite that, he has, like. An abnormally large amount of skills? Or interests at least, that he'd probably make a good villain himself being a sort of jack of all trades, but he's sort of resigned himself to just.......... being a shitty lawyer who can’t win a case.

Sally Botsford is also his enemy but like, completely one-sidedly. Sally is just out here getting that COIN.

A couple Tobey's this time

I CRY LAUGH EVERYTIME SOMEONE DRAWS HIM WITH THE ARCH SOBBING

low effort reigen doodles to combat my lethargy

edit: added alt text, thank you @peachygos for the descriptions!

edit 2: to everyone saying "studio bones started it" yeah i know. but arent we all the fools who are playing right along their little game